Posts by Nubblecakes

I see...

The rocks must go!!! And I might just make this a novelty piece and leave out the gameplay. It's REALLY unfortunate that none of my maps will compile in the OB engine and run in ep2 without crashing, I can't figure out why, but it's probably because of some weird bug that I never found out how to fix.

I might just do a sloped wall that the water runs down, kind of like that one part in Mirrors Edge where you slide down that really long water slope. I want to try and create a really nice-looking waterfall texture that has refracting properties. I can code it but the problem lies with getting it to render right on a brush.

I also might get rid of the volumetric lighting and make the light coming in a lot paler. Either that or just block it off.

I thank you for the constructive criticism. I got very similar feedback over at Interlopers.

The map wasn't a serious project, however I won't use that as an excuse for its flaws. I was just free-mapping and not taking a lot into consideration as I was making this. I might remake it with some more accurate (and detailed) textures. My biggest focus is the color contrast and everything--making sure the colors compliment each other.

However I do have a mod idea incorporating this style of mapping that I wish to pursue. I just need to work on all the textures I'll need to do it. Hopefully I can get the Mirror's Edge theme well in the mod.

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So basically, I got really bored, and felt like making a little map for knifing people in, and I came up with this piece.

I tried to make a style similar to Mirrors Edge, which is pretty much done with the textures. All the textures in this map are custom, even the props (they're reskins). The reskins are have to be downloaded and installed separately in order to function right, but that means they'll show up in any map that has the models in it. It's up to you really, but the map looks better with them applied.

The textures are simply matte, plain colors that use detail normalmaps to give the texture depth and such. Valve did the same thing with a couple of episode 2 textures that were used in the silo maps (Crows Nest chapter). Pretty much EVERY texture has a normalmap applied to it.

Download map:

http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/75691

Download reskins:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ymbqyzvjnky

Holy crap. Fantastic work as always Warby.

I've already used these props in my near finished HL2DM map called dm_darkmetal. A few of these props made a simple cylinder room look great. Keep it up man.

Thanks. It's not too hard to implement normalmaps. Crazy Bump was used on the red wall, and the blue floor you see. I am not sure if it is as good as the others were. They were made using the normal map plugin for PS. People said that Crazybump is better though, so I took my best shot with it, but I feel that it has less options than the PS plugin does.

Well, I've seen people complain relentlessly about the default half life 2 stuff, so I decided to go really different from the default.

Hope you guys enjoy it.

Well. I decided to make a few more textures for the "Gecko" pack, then release it all in one download. I have to say that I was impressed with myself because I never thought that I would be capable of pulling something like this out of my ass this quickly.

But, even so, here are some shots in my novelty map that uses every single one of the gecko textures:

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Other Info:

I actually forgot to display the hex texture in the pack. Nothing entirely special, but it sets the mood for the maps I have made. I'll get a reference asap.

Those crystals are from de_rift, I did NOT make them.

The really red wall you see is a texture that is really influenced by light entities, so use it wisely in your maps. Any texture that is silvery or of a very light color, and is reflective; is like this.

These pictures were not taken to show off the map. They were taken to display the textures, just so you know.

You may edit the textures as you wish if you feel they are too reflective or something. Just please give me credit for the original design, and if you use these in any of your maps, give me credit for them as well.

Don't edit the folder system they are in or else it will cause all the textures to come up with reflection errors of the sort, as well as generic missing texture errors.

If you see some distortion in the pictures that looks wavy, it's from an effect texture I used called "Strider bulge." It was used to just add some alien feel to the map.

Download:

http://www.savefile.com/files/801825

File info:

-30 megs un-compressed, 11 megs compressed

Here is my newest WIP map. Probably my best work so far:

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WIP thread:

http://%7boption%7d

Name: De_archipelago

Percent complete: 65%

History of map:

Believe it or not, but this map has it's history. I originally started out with this:

[Blocked Image: http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o67/nub…ction3-full.jpg]

As you can see, It has REALLY improved since. I believe that I started this thing in September of last year. That is the earliest I could find. That was version two, I called it "micro_island." The very original had no rock Arch or any rock clusters out in the distance, it was just a single, tiny island with an inaccessible house. Now, it's a cluster of islands, with custom content, HDR lighting, and tactical properties. Hopefully the map will be finished by May 23rd, as that is the last day of school here for me. During the summer, I have to get cracking on one large atoll with a lagoon in it.

That ALMOST looked like a rip from Half Life 2. But the last shot confirmed it was not. It's great work so far, if you can make the map look like it was from the game, than you have some talent going there. I'll try it out some time.

Not trying to make it look like Farcry, really. But we all have our own opinions, so I'll take your word for it.

Umm, that was completely off topic...

Isn't there a help section in the forums that you can post that kind of thing in?

And to answer your question, a night time map with industrial lighting would be better because it would be more interesting than just day time.

Thanks. But that, I think, was only Bloom and not full HDR. Last time I ran it with full HDR, a lot of things were over-shiny and silvery, specifically the finger nails on the hands, and the windows were pure white. The docks had white dots all over them from the shiny reflections, it was terrible looking...

But yeah, I also found that the HDR suited the map well. The cool thing about HDR lighting is if you look at a rather dark area, then turn and look at a spot that is rather bright, it focuses the lighting and dims down some. And this suited the map well, and also gives it a more tactical and realistic feel. It's difficult to see an enemy when you have a huge glare of light blind your eyes, but since it focuses, it isn't an annoyance or flaw in the map.

Warby, it's an honor to have you post here. I appreciate your praises. I loved de_wanda by the way.

But anyway, I believe I sent you a PM about de_wanda's custom content, asking if I could use any of it in this map. Specifically the water falls. I do plan to get a larger island in an open spot and make it look like a mini jungle or something.

I may even change the houses so it looks more like a paradise vacation of some sort. Right now it looks like some sort of tiny village on a random archipelago in the ocean.

Well, I pondered the gameplay as well, and I have to say that it was actually quite fun for me, and it was pretty tactical:

Update.

I was play-testing the map in it's latest compile. I have HDR in it and everything, navigation worked surprisingly VERY well after I ran nav_generate. It took a long time to generate the navigation, but it was worth it. Here is a taste of what it looked like before I started more work on it:

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(Sneaky bastards like to hide)

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(Bombsite A in action!)

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As you can see, the old 3D skybox is gone, I have not gotten around to working on the new one yet. I am focusing my work on the play area first, then I will work on the 3Dskybox last. I changed one of the islands, and gave it a rock arch, and a ladder leading to the top of it, and there is a watch tower on top that you can climb up to. This sort of evens out the gameplay. CT and T now have two spots they can get up high at and snipe. But, each spot is pretty risky to get to. I may need to re-think it because the Terrorists' high-spots are houses with A LOT of cover, and the CT spots are very open and exposing.

But all this brings up the dynamics of the way the level was designed. The map is based somewhat on de_dust. The CT spawn at one bomb site, and are close to the other. The Terrorists, have a lot of different ways they can go, and some what of a better advantage in sniping spots. But, CT have more cover on the ground, and them being closer to the bomb sites, they can just chill at the sites and camp. The navigation build went well for the most part, but my mapping made it impossible for the bots to get to bombsite A, which is the two story house. They could only plant the bomb at B, which is the red hut in the picture above, getting blown away by the c4. Anyway, I am thinking that this map is actually balanced, because the first playtest, I was on terrorists team, and we were demolishing the CT. But the second play test, it was the other way around, and I was still on the Terrorists side, I think that the team the human player is on, has bots with less skill than the team with only bots. So, I am assuming that the map's design is well laid out and fair on both sides.

I am thinking about possibly releasing a beta of this or something for people who are interested to play. But, I need to gather up all the models and materials so that you don't see checkerboards and errors. And I, as well, am starting to dislike this water texture. I am not sure if I should use a pre-made one from Valve, or if I could find a good, custom texture.

Any of you know of a really good water texture that suits a tropical environment?

PS: About the house on the rocks and such. I have decided to bump the percent of completion down to 60%. Your comment just made me realize how skimpy the support structure really looks on that house. Normally, a structure like that would collapse, and if it managed to even stay up, if a storm were to hit the area, it would be demolished.

But anyway, I am probably going to recreate that entire island, maybe just make another two story house, or just an island dedicated to tropical vegetation, for a person who wants to stay back and snipe people. The map seems like a sniping map, really, but a lot of servers I go to, they restrict the AWP and autosnipers.

Thanks for the info, I'll be sure to look at everything you pointed out.

As for the houses, I haven't gotten to adding more to them yet, but that is one of my priorities before I release the map.

Hey guys. For the past few months, I have been pretty busy working on maps and everything. My main focus is "De_archipelago." So far it's at 75% completion. Last night I ran a fast compile to test and see how it works so far. I had some minor bugs, and one really nasty bug with the 3D skybox, so bare with me when looking at the pictures. Also, I think the fast compile made the lighting look really crappy and pale. The shadows look terrible.

Description:

If you do not know the definition for the word "Archipelago," it means "A group of islands." My map is a group of very small islands linked together by a series of docks. Some islets (if that's a word) have a house or structure on it, or have simply vegetation (trees and such).

Since it is a "De_" map, it has two bomb sites, they are each in a house in the map. One is in the two story house with the hole in it's front wall, and the other is in the small, red, square hut with the strange roof. I made the bomb sites more dynamic, rather than just a crappy explosion sprite and that's it.

But nonetheless, here are some pictures of how the map looks so far:

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I think 14 images is enough.

NOTES:

-I made the bombsites already, I'll probably have to go back and make them a bit better.

-I need to make a better 3D skybox.

-Need to make markings and directions for the bomb sites and everything.

It's a few more weeks of work, but I am really trying to make this map as good as possible.

I understand that the outer cliff walls look terrible, it was a temporary 3D skybox until I really started in on the official one.

Constructive Criticism is welcome, I really want some informative feedback on this, so let me know what you think about it.

Every site I have released these textures at, people claim they remind them of Prey. I take that as a compliment too.

Well, Genetica has a rather..."lacking" choice of labs and cut&tile patterns, so some textures will look similar. I did, however, tinker with seeding, scaling, liquid effects, grit density, mortar width, and shading and everything. Took a bit to get these textures to look like they do. But, I admit that it is rather easy to make them. But at least I did all the work for you.

Thanks for the C&C. I'll take it into consideration.

Got my new computer today, so I'm in a halt with mapping and everything until I get the games installed and updated.

First off, I would like to introduce myself. You can call me "Nubblecakes," or "Nub" for short.

Getting back on topic, I have some textures for you guys.

I made these a few weeks ago, and I really liked the outcome of them. I am using a WIP map of mine to show the textures off in action:

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Hope I didn't miss any of them. It probably won't matter if you want to get them, since you will get to see them in hammer. Here is the download for the textures:

http://%7boption%7d

PS: The program I used to create these textuers is called "Genetica." Fantastic program, I recommend it to all of you if you have not yet seen it.